Anatomy of a security hole - the break that broke sudo

JMH · May 20, 2012

A recently-patched bug in the widely-used sudo command makes for interesting reading.

The patch reminds us of some important points in security-related programming.

The UNIX sudo command is usually translated to mean "do as superuser" - in other words, it lets you run administrative commands one at a time, without logging in as the superuser (root, in UNIX parlance).

More accurately, sudo stands for "substitute user identity and do", so that you can use it to take on an identity other than root, such as a backup user or a database administrator.

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/201...Feed:+nakedsecurity+(Naked+Security+-+Sophos)

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Anatomy of a security hole - the break that broke sudo

JMH

Emeritus, Contributor